How

New lemur: big feet, long tongue and the size of squirrel

12/13/2010

New species of primate from Madagascar is shown exclusively on BBC’s Decade of
Discovery program

Washington, DC /
London – A species of fork-marked lemur believed to be new to science
was discovered in the dry forests of Madagascar. It will be shown for the first
time exclusively on BBC's "Decade of Discovery" special program this Tuesday,
Conservation International and BBC's Natural History Unit announced today. There
are currently four species of the genus Phaner and this one should be
the fifth.

Dr. Russ Mittermeier, world renowned primate expert and President of
Conservation International, first spotted the animal in 1995 during an
expedition to Daraina, a protected area in the northeast of Madagascar.

"I went to this area for the first time to see the spectacular Tattersall's
sifaka (Propithecus tattersali), a large diurnal species that itself
had just been described in 1988. I was surprised to all see a fork-marked lemur
there, since this animal had not yet been recorded from the region. I
immediately knew that it was likely a new species to science, but didn't have
the time to follow up until now," he said.

In October this year, Mittermeier led an expedition of scientists, including
geneticist Ed Louis from the Omaha Zoo, and a film crew from the BBC's Natural
History Unit to the same area, where they managed to track down the fork-marked
lemur.

The team set out just after sunset when the Phaner are most vocal
and heard one calling close to camp at the top of a tree. The Phaner
was difficult to catch as it moved quickly through the treetops so the team ran
through the dense forest following the calls. Eventually, they caught sight of
the animal in torchlight but had to wait until it moved into an open area to get
a clean shot with a tranquiliser gun. Once a dart had found its target, one of
the trackers quickly shinned up the tree to retrieve it.

The adult male lemur was kept safe and sedated overnight so the team could
examine it in detail and take samples in daylight. The animal was measured (it
is about the size of a squirrel), blood samples were taken for genetic analyses
to confirm if it is indeed a new species, and a microchip was slipped in under
its skin for the purpose of identification and monitoring. It was then returned
to its forest home.

"This is yet another remarkable discovery from the island of Madagascar, the
world's highest priority biodiversity hotspot and one of the most extraordinary
places in our planet," Mittermeier said. "It is particularly remarkable that we
continue to find new species of lemurs and many other plants and animals in this
heavily impacted country, which has already lost 90 percent or more of its
original vegetation."

Since it has very restricted range, it is likely that this will turn out to
be an endangered or critically endangered species, even though it has been not
been formally described yet.

Like the other four species of the genus Phaner, this potentially
new species has:

a black, Y-shaped line that starts above each eye and joins together as a
single line on the top of the head, creating the fork that gives these animals
their common name

large hands and feet for gripping onto trees

a loud, high-pitched night-time call which helped the team track it
down

an unusual head-bobbing behavior that shows up in the beam of the flashlight
at night and is unique to this species

a diet consisting of a high proportion of gumexuded by trees and flower
nectar

a long tongue for slurping up nectar and recumbent incisors, which form a
toothcomb specialized as a scraping tool to bite into the bark

"This fifth species has a somewhat different color pattern, but the main
differences from the other four will likely be genetic", Mittermeier said. Since
the discovery was filmed, Louis and his team have been carrying out genetic
analyses to confirm if this is in fact a new species. Mittermeier and Louis
would like it to be named after the non-governmental conservation organization
Fanamby (Malagasy for "the challenge") that has been instrumental in protecting
the forest of Daraina, where the lemur was found.

In the last decade, 63 new species of primates, including 42 species of
lemurs, have been discovered worldwide. Louis has been responsible of a large
part of the new lemur discoveries. Two lemurs have been named after Mittermeier,
who has been studying primates for over 40 years. They are also shown in the
program:

a tiny mouse lemur discovered in 2006, named Microcebus
mittermeieri

a sportive lemur discovered in 2008, named Lepilemur
mittermeieri

Madagascar is the only country where lemurs are found. They are
forest-dwelling and are under serious threat. Since almost all of Madagascar's
forests have been destroyed, there is a real sense of urgency to find and
catalogue the lemurs that are left, but more importantly to save their habitat,
which are the source of food and income for people.

"Protection of Madagascar's remaining natural forests should be considered
one of the world's highest conservation priorities," Mittermeier said. "These
forests are home to an incredible array of species that are a true global
heritage, and also provide an incalculable array of benefits to local
communities in the form of clean water, foods and fibers, and other ecosystem
services."

Background information

Lemurs are found only on the island of Madagascar. There are just over 100
species of lemur with over 40 founds in the last decade. Scientists believe that
they travelled by chance across the sea on rafts of vegetation that are
occasionally washed down from rivers.

Since then lemurs have evolved in isolation from other primates like monkeys,
which evolved later, and without many predators so they have differentiated into
many forms. Madagascar has many different habitats and each species has its own
adaptations to survive in its particular niche.

Lemurs are named after the lemurs (ghosts or spirits) of Roman mythology due
to their ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes and usual nocturnal habits. One
of the reasons more new lemur species have been described recently is that
scientists are realizing that animals which may look similar to our eyes are
actually quite different to each other.

The mouse lemurs are a good example of these so-called "cryptic" species – in
1994 there were only 2 names species of mouse lemur, now there are 18 distinct
species. Each has slightly different fur or size but some look nearly identical,
at least to the human eye.

Conservation International (CI): Building upon a strong foundation of
science, partnership and field demonstration, CI empowers societies to
responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the
well-being of humanity. With headquarters in Washington, DC, CI works in more
than 40 countries on four continents. www.conservation.org

"Decade of Discovery"will be aired tomorrow, December 14th, on BBC2 at 8 pm.
In the last decade scientists and explorers have discovered a staggering quarter
of a million new species, "Decade of Discovery" is a celebratory one-off
special by BBC's Natural History Unit and presented by Chris Packham who chooses
his personal top ten favourites of the most extraordinary discoveries of the
last ten years. The programme filmed right round the world and also features
speciation in the making with two geckos in Indonesia, the rarest monkey in
Africa, and number one on presenter Chris Packhams' list – the pygmy three-toed
sloth, off Panama, filmed swimming for the first time.